"It is most unlikely."
"Well, let me put it to the test, Mr. Lanning. Just write—let me see, how will it be best to word it? 'I am going to Silesia—' By the way, when will you go?"
"I thought to-night."
"It is as well not to waste time," said Quarles. "Then write, 'I am going to Silesia to-night. I want you to be perfectly open with the bearer of this note and do whatever he advises. If you would be a true friend to me, tell him everything.' Put your ordinary signature to it. With that in my possession I will get to work at once, and if I discover anything of importance, and it should be necessary to stop your journey, I will meet your train to-night."
"It seems like an impertinence," Lanning said as he wrote the note.
"When there is so much at stake I shouldn't let that worry you," said Nixon.
No sooner had they gone than Quarles became alert.
"Now we move, Wigan. First of all, we have an appointment in Kensington, at the Blue Lion, near the church, quite a respectable hostelry."
"Not to meet Mademoiselle Duplaix, surely?"
"No, she can wait. Respectable as it is, I do not suppose Mademoiselle frequents the Blue Lion, but we may find there the man who called upon her this morning."